MBP Docking station Help!

brianj said:

Hello,

I need a docking station for my santa Rosa Macbook pro.

I find most are ugly and unappealing, however I recently found this:
http://www.belkin.com/highspeeddock but in the FAQ it states that is not compatible with mac....


Does anyone else know of a docking station for MBP that isnt plain out butt ugly?

Thanks in advance for your reply.

Click to expand...

Unfortunately, you are pretty much out of luck with your search for a docking station for a mac. The one you linked to looks quite nice and one that I would actually consider getting to use when i get my new laptop, if it worked with a mac.

My suggestion is to e-mail Belkin and see what kinda response you get.

I know you said not ugly, but have you seen the bookendz? I personally think they are ugly, but if you need a docking station they are about it from what I have experienced. Pricey too!

Link

Ran accross Bookendz Docking Station for Mac at MacWorld 2008.
More expensive than the Belkin, but might be what your looking for.

$299 for Macbook Pro

http://www.bookendzdocks.com/Docking_Stations-Docking_Station_for_15_MacBook_Pro_Firewire_800.html

I would love one of the bookendz docks, but at that price I just cannot justify it. There is not much to them, and I think they would sell like crazy at 80-100 US. Probably still a big profit margin for them at that point...

although this looks great, it's not a true docking station/port replicator. Since this device uses software (which is probably the biggest reason it's not compatible) to route all the items to the Belkin station.

If you read further you'll see it actually has a graphics chip. It also states it can't support Aero in Vista which a true docking station will since it's just routing the ports.

Basically from what I've gathered it's remote desktoping/VNC to your laptop and displaying it on the connect monitor which would explain it's limited capability.

Still, would be nice. Unfortunately most 'docking' stations/port replicators there's to many cables to hook up and the only solution for us at the moment is bookendz.

However, if I had the start up capital I would surely make those more affordable and definitely more attractive. Those bookendz things are disgusting.

Personally a design that I've seen which hold the laptop in clamshell mode vertically and just plug an adapter that fits all the ports for the specific mb versions would be a nice product.